Duracell Partners With Social Energy To Launch New UK-based Utility

Solar PV, battery storage and artificial intelligence systems are at the core of a new utility model presented yesterday in London, the United Kingdom. pv magazineattended the launch event.

Jason Sharpe of Social Energy launches the new utility while Javier Hernandez of Duracell looks on.

Social Energy is the newest player to arriving on the United Kingdom’s electricity and gas utilities’ scene. It launched last night at an event in London’s city center.

The business model

The utility claims it does things differently and guarantees its customers can “reduce their electricity bills by up to 70% and gain access to 100% renewable energy.”

Its business model includes solar PV panels, battery systems and an intelligent algorithm, which the firm names the Social Energy Network.

Some savings are planned to come via the Social Energy’s trading with the National Grid, which owns and operates the country’s transmission system.

In fact, it claims it is “the first home energy trading solution to be fully compliant with National Grid’s dynamic frequency response service,” with the batteries installed in the customers’ homes providing services to the National Grid.

Further to the National Grid’s frequency response payments and savings coming from the self-generating and self-consuming of solar PV energy, some additional savings will come via avoiding peak cost of electricity at wholesale prices.

Social Energy’s CEO Ryan Gill told pv magazine the firm expects to receive the electricity and gas supply license by February 2019, when it will then be able to offer customers a variable flexible tariff so they can reap the benefits of flexibility services.

Synergies

Perhaps the most important element of this new business venture is Social Energy’s synergy with established players in the energy market. One of these is battery manufacturer Duracell.

Javier Hernandez, Duracell’s president for Europe and Africa, told the event that electricity grids will become increasingly local and, together with Social Energy, the company wants to make battery storage the business model of the future.

Social Energy is also collaborating with other home battery storage manufacturers and says it is willing to work with customers who own different battery brands.

Additionally, the utility is cooperating with Project Solar UK, a solar PV and battery installer. Project Solar UK’s Tom Armstrong told the event that while only 9% of its customers bought a battery system, they see battery sales increasing significantly.

Their customers, added Armstrong, will save more by combining with Social Energy’s intelligent software trading systems.

Tough times

Times are tough though. The United Kingdom’s retail energy market is dominated by the “Big 6” utilities. Their share of the market has been constantly decreasing since 2010, with a plethora of new utilities entering the market, often offering smart solutions, like the ones by Social Energy.

However, big utilities, which also own large generation assets, are often greatly supported by capacity market payments, which offers them an advantage.

In contrast, small renewable energies, like home solar PV systems, have seen their subsidy payments drastically cut in the last few years and there is even more uncertainty about future payments.

Under the proposals, Ofgem will apply fixed residual charges to all final energy demand users, making the business case for many companies offering flexibility services much harder.

Residual charges are used to ensure electricity grid companies can recover their costs. Because residual charges are currently variable, some end power demand users can adjust their power consumption (mainly via solar, storage and demand side response systems) to reduce residual costs.

Should Ofgem apply a fixed capacity charge for each demand meter, final consumers will not have an incentive to adjust their power use and the dynamic use of the energy grids will be discouraged. Innovative firms offering contracts based on flexibility will also be able to turn less savings for their customers.

Overall, competition in the United Kingdom’s retail energy industry is tough. Last week, Extra Energy and Spark Energy were the sixth and seventh small power utilities, respectively, to go bust this year.

International plans

Nevertheless, Social Energy’s team looks determined to make the difference. Gill told pv magazine the company is presently conducting market analysis and is aiming to expand abroad.

Australia, he said, appears first on the list of the international markets that the utility will target. This is due both to the market’s characteristics and because the firm has access to a network of local contacts.